Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh):
A man was killed by a herd of wild elephants in a village in Ambikapur-Wadraf
Nagar area on Sunday. When a team of forest employees arrived at the spot they
were detained by villagers. The forest employees were let off after more than
eight hours and only after the forest ranger went to the spot and pacified the
angry villagers.

According to sources, a
herd of about 16 wild elephants has been wandering near border villages of
Ramanujgunj and Wadraf Nagar, about 350 km from here for several days now. It
has destroyed houses and several villages and damaged crop in large area. On
Sunday the herd was at villages Mahuli and Belsar. The same day a villager,
Gopal Pando (40), a resident of village Mahuli was attacked by the herd on
Belsar road. One of the wild elephants caught Gopal in its trunk and thrashed on
the ground, killing him on the spot.

A team of forest
officials arrived at the spot after receiving the information. The villagers
detained five of them. Villagers alleged that whenever some damage is caused by
wild elephants, some field staff are sent to affected villages, who are of no
help to the victims as the field staff is not capable of assessing the damaged
suffered by villagers.

They said herds of wild
elephants have been creating havoc in the area for close to a month now, but no
serious attempts have been made to solve the problem. In Belsar alone the herd
has completely destroyed 40 houses, besides damaging crops. People have to
spend whole nights many a times out in the open whenever the herd enters the
villages. They added that they would not allow the detained forest employees
till such time a forest official visits the village and assures them of taking
positive steps in addressing the issue.

Later ranger JP Pandey reached
the village in the afternoon and discussed the matter with the villagers.
Pandey also called for trained personnel of 'Hulla Party' from nearby village
of Jhor to counter the menace of wild elephants. Following Pandey's visit the
villagers released the detained forest employees.